Redemption
by ManictheEarthmaster
Summary: A story based around one of my OCs named Slash the Hedgehog, whose miserable childhood only fuels his lifelong goal of achieving victory. Of course obstacles are going to be in his way, so we'll just see if he can overcome them or not.
1. Storytime at the Bar

**Storytime at the Pub**

It was night, around ten o'clock in the quiet outskirts of this small city. A motor could be heard as a motorcycle was being driven down a road, with the driver being clad in an unzipped, long black leather jacket with pants of the same color. A few seconds later, the sound of tires screeched to a halt within a small parking lot, as he was getting off of his motorcycle, going right inside a familiar bar. He seemed to be the only person in the bar at the time, and took a seat on a stool, getting the bartender's attention.

"Hm, looks like that one hedgehog guy again." The bartender happened to be a green colored, female chipmunk, organizing some bottles on the rack behind her, before turning around to see the hedgehog leaning against the counter. She instantly recognized who it was, as he was one of the regulars at this place, and had a friendly smile on her face.

"Hey, my regular! How's that motorcycle coming along?"

"Eh, nothin' new. Still leaking a lil' bit, but at least I made it here."

The grey hedgehog sat up a bit as he looked back at her with his blue eyes underneath his black shades.

"Yeah, true. The usual drink, I'm guessing?"

"You know it."

The chipmunk nodded before turning around, getting the alcoholic beverages onto the counter as she started mixing some into a certain drink that the hedgehog loved to consume.

"So, how's it going for you, Slash? You seemed kind of down recently..."

"Fine."

"Hmm.. very informative." The chipmunk sarcastically replied as she finished making his drink, and poured him some in a mug before placing it in front of him on the counter.

"Here's the usual for ya. Drink up!"

"Hooray." The hedgehog flatly said as he picked up his mug and took a sip of it, liking how it tasted and letting the bitterness settle with his taste buds.

"Know what, I'm feelin' bored tonight, so if you really wanna know, then I'll tell ya."

The hedgehog rested his elbows on the counter as he continued, with the chipmunk sitting down in front of him to listen.

"So, I was this lil' kid in a pretty shitty neighborhood, never saw my dad since he was in prison, and was livin' with my mom for pretty much my childhood. Seems pretty normal, right? Every day when I was walkin' over to school, down the sidewalk I had to put my hood over my head, or just somehow hide my face from certain kids over there so they wouldn't beat my ass up in that first alley I have to pass to get to school. Then after that, I was at school, where I was kinda safe from gettin' hurt, except Fridays… Then, seven hours later, when school was all done that day, I had to go down the same goddamned path home, except I had to speedwalk down there, and try not lookin' in one of those alleys, since my mom was workin' there pretty much every night. I get home, then I just stay in my room for the rest of the night, doin' homework, or beatin' up my punchin' bag just cause, then go to beat pretty late, or not at all if I got beat up at school that day."

Slash then took another sip of his beer before continuing.

"So, that was pretty much me from 1st grade up to the end of high school, where I moved out of my mom's, and went to college for a bit, with a little job to help out my mom a bit with money when I was away doin' my shit as a mechanic for motorcycles. I then heard about this big tournament thing that was happening not to far from where I was, and decided to try it out, since I did take up some kickboxing for a while. Eventually, I showed up there, fought all the way to the semi-finals, then lost to this orange tiger guy, but did get paid quite a lot since I made it to third place. I was happy as hell, and sent like half of the winnings to my mom, which only got me to train some more so I could be in the next tourney thing. So I tried again, got a little flashy with some special gear with my name on it, and lost again, same place, but I wasn't complainin' since I got that reward still."

"Fast forward a couple months from that, and it was December. Two days after I spent a Christmas with my mom since she was retired, I was at my little place I managed to get. I get a phone call from one of her neighbors that knew us for the longest, and they said that she just passed away suddenly, didn't even say why, now that I remember. Now that really struck me hard, and got me into a pretty big depression for a while. Didn't talk to anyone, and stayed inside for months, drinking heavy, smoking a ton of shit, drugs, you name it."

"Eventually, I actually went outside once, which was a pretty big fuckin' mistake on my part, since I couldn't even see straight, blurred vision like I was wearing wrong prescription glasses, couldn't walk straight, and I got on my bike to drive down a street for somethin' I don't even remember now, since I was pretty fucked up then. Cause of all that stuff I did before driving, I ended up driving all weird, swervin' left, right, up, down, which I think got a cop's attention, and he tried to pull me over. I got spooked by the sudden siren blarin' behind me, and just sped up to max speed so they wouldn't get me. I made the dumbest mistake by just looking behind me, then bam. Head on collision with a bus after I hit a turn. I went face-first through the windshield, and the cops stopped the bus to get me up and into custody. I think I looked like a live pincushion with all that glass on my arms and face, with blood trailin' down and stuff as they cuffed me and put me in the backseat of that cop car."

"I was loopy as shit in that car, and just closed my eyes when we headed to the jail. Next thing ya know, I was at this place where they were checking me, and had some people take all that glass off of me, cleanin' up the blood, and made me change into some jumpsuit that all those criminals wore, not the stupid striped one they wear in those cartoons or whatever. They took my mugshot, then sent me to this cell where I was alone. When all the stuff started wearing off of my mind, I started understanding where I was, and just lied down on the stiff mattress that they give you in those cells. I was sentenced there for two years, and since there was no one to bail me out, I had to get ready to stay there for a long time. I felt like I could just die then since I didn't think it was worth living in that craphole for two years, but I did manage to find some way to stay there, by reading some books, working out everyday, and hardest of them all, eat that shit they call food for all that time. After my sentence was up, I was finally let go from that jail, and then after I went to my mom's funeral, I just went back to do my thing, which was fixing up motorcycles and hitting a punching bag."

He let out a yawn as he cracked his knuckles a little, looking back to the chipmunk that was listening to his every word.

"Wow. I know I've heard that you've been in jail once, but didn't know it was like _that_…"

The green bartender said as he washed some of the dirty mugs.

"Yup, if you wanna learn anything from that, don't go to jail, lil' lady."

"So, how about now? Like, do you have any other plans after that whole thing?"

Slash let out a sigh as he moved his glasses up from his face and finished his mug of beer.

"Well, pretty much I'm just tryin' to meet some new people, and I heard that there was gonna be another one of those tournament things, but I'm probably just gonna watch, not gonna fight in it… Just stayin' away from doin' anything illegal is all."

"Hm, not doing anything illegal. Guess that means no more alcohol for you then, driver. It's almost closing time here as well."

"Ugh." He hung his head down as the chipmunk chuckled a little. "Well, fuck. I guess so."

He got up from his stool as he took out a couple rolls of rings to give her to pay for his drink. "Next time, I wanna hear about you. Kay? Seeya soon."

"Oh, you most definitely will, and drive safe!"

The chipmunk waved goodbye at him, as the hedgehog smiled back at her before leaving the bar and getting back on his motorcycle, driving off into the night.


	2. Flashback: Tournament Elites

**Flashback: The Tournament Elites**

"Another tournament? Hell yeah! Where do I sign up?!"

A young, blond haired hedgehog said as he was reading the newspaper, and saw this headline of a fighting tournament coming soon. He loved to fight, as it was one of his favorite things to do, besides reading motorcycle magazines. He already did this whole fighting competition a year ago, and was waiting for the next one to show up, since he already made his own gear to wear out there, and finally win it big for himself and his mother. They had been in some pretty deep debt at that point, and Slash was the one who was bringing home money for them, so winning this thing would do wonders for them.

"It's not gonna be like what happened last year, this time, I'm winnin' the whole thing!"

Up until the day of the actual tournament, he started training vigorously, being at the gym pretty much every day, specifically the punching bag as he was working on different kinds of combos to use at his fights. One move in particular that he mastered at this time was his deadly knee that could catch anyone off guard, and hit it so many times on a punching bag that it broke off, unsurprisingly, which didn't really mind him since he was so focused on winning.

Eventually, it would be tournament time, and he had the pleasure of being the first match of the 16-person bout. He came down the ramp, wearing green fighting shorts with white flame designs on it, and his name on both sides of it, white taping on his hands and feet, and a green headband on his forehead, with a fist design on it. He had this big grin on his face once he got in the ring, and looked around the crowd, getting pumped up for his fight. His opponent soon walked down the the other ramp, and it was this dalmatian wearing a green pants and shirt combo, as he danced his way to the ring, while Slash was already in his fighting stance, looking on. Once they were both in the ring, the two shook hands before the fight started.

Slash immediately sidestepped a flying kick that the dalmatian named Roadie attempted to hit him with, and retaliated with a swift uppercut from his right hand that landed. He then followed that up with a leaping knee to the canine's back in mid air before taking a step back when he got back up. Roadie did hit Slash with a kick to the jaw, but Slash grabbed onto his leg that just kicked him, and started throwing knees at underneath his leg to try and take it out, but Roadie managed to backflip out of his grip, only for his face to be met with a hard spinning back fist when he landed, which of course broke the dalmatian's nose and caused him to fall. The dog held his nose as he slowly stood back up, and looked at Slash, whom had the upper hand at the moment.

As the fight went on, Slash would be the one victorious with a flying knee to the ribs, which sent Roadie right out of the ring, declaring him the winner and to move on to the quarter-finals. There, he easily beat a local competitor that was under the name "Rico", and moved on to the semi-finals, not without some pressure, seeing who he was going to face.

When it was his third time to fight, he went back out there, cracking his knuckles already knowing who he was going to be waiting for, a familiar face, Lotus, whom he was defeated by in the finals of the last tournament. When he got in the ring and was getting ready, the orange and black striped, short-haired tiger walked down the ramp, and bowed to him as a sign of respect, before their match was underway. Things started hot and heavy as they both went directly at each other, multiple hits landing on both competitors. One highlight on Slash's side was when he managed to get Lotus reeling on one knee from two kicks to his shins, and followed it up with a nasty running knee to the jaw, that knocked the tiger down, but not out. The other big moment was obviously the finish of that fight.

Both were hurt in their own way, but neither would give up the chance to be in the final. Slash went running at Lotus for another powerful knee to the face, and Lotus ran toward him as well for a jumping kick of his own, and both lept into the air at the same time, with both of their moves hitting simultaneously, causing both to come crashing down on the ring. Neither seemed to be able to get up, but Lotus somehow managed to, as he slowly got up and was declared the winner, since Slash was assumed knocked out as he didn't get up in time. Lotus, being the good sport that he is, checked up on the downed hedgehog who eventually woke up, and helped him up as he walked up the ramp with him, Slash still being unaware of what just happened.


	3. A Creepy Meeting

**A Lunatic's Entrance**

Slash drove down a street which streetlights made the road visible, and let out a bored sigh as he was on his way home for some much needed sleep. He had to make an abrupt stop since it seemed like something, or someone was in his way, and just wouldn't move.

"Ey, down in front! Move it, will ya?!"

The figure that Slash was talking too would soon turn around, and step forward to the light of a street light, albeit with a slight limp, and could be heard laughing, steadily growing louder and coming closer to him by stepping backwards.

"I know you definitely **_LOVE _**it, Jane. You m-most definitely should, my love.~ Remember that one day where…"

The green figure kept rambling on, as Slash just looked at him, dumbfounded and confused, and just turned his motorcycle around him and went on to where he wanted to go.

"That was… pretty damn weird. Ah well, least I can get some shuteye soo-"

He stopped mid sentence when he felt someone on the backseat of his bike, and turned his head around to see the same guy from last time, still rambling on and laughing by himself, which obviously astonished Slash out as he stopped his bike and shoved the green iguana off, getting off to confront this strange person.

"Dude, would you just get the hell away from me alre-"

"Oh hush Jane, I know that the **_FUCKING_** stove is still on, I'm a little, hehe… forgetful is all, dear."

Slash let out a frustrated sigh as he looked at what the iguana was wearing, which was what looked like an offwhite straightjacket with the sleeves ripped off, some numbers underneath the word "INMATE" on the back of his outfit, and this black muzzle that connected around his head, which had a hole at his mouth with 3 slightly damaged bars on it. He had visible dark markings on his face that resembled cuts over and under his yellow eyes, and seemed to have escaped an asylum of some sort.

"Yeaaaaah, I don't know who this 'Jane' is that ya can't shut up about, but it definitely ain't me, so leave me alone before you annoy me a little _too_ much, kay?"

The reptile just stared at the hedgehog with his wild eyes, and suddenly punched himself right on his forehead before shaking his head and giggling.

"Jane, is everywhere. Heh! Why, I'm looking at her, right now! Oh how I missed seeing her after all those years at that place before i-it became a bloodbath, my love… If only you were there to see it, the sounds of metal smacking flesh, pink and blue organs sliding out of guards like a spilled cup of **_FUCKING NOODLES._** Oh, it was great, buddy…"

Tears soon started to roll down the iguana's twisted eyes as he smiled under that muzzle, looking at Slash again, who was awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"Don't you remember that, m'lady? The good ol' times? Momma and Pop laying down on the floor when I tried to show them how I could juggle kitchen knives? Or when I drove dad's car when I was three, and showed them that cars can fly from off of waterfalls? The GODDAMN good ol' days, I tell ya."

The iguana had more tears come down from the corners of his eyes as he broke out in hysterical laughter, limping away into a dark alley he occupied as he started singing a nursery rhyme to himself, as well as saying 'Jane' repeatedly while tugging hard on his own green quills. Slash just shrugged and got back on his motorcycle, riding off as well as making sure that reptile wasn't on the back seat again.

"And they put _me_ in jail..."


End file.
